Human hair becomes soiled due to its contact with the surrounding atmosphere and, to a greater extent, from sebum secreted by the head. The build-up of the sebum causes the hair to have a dirty feel and an unattractive appearance. The soiling of the hair necessitates it being shampooed with frequent regularity.
Shampooing the hair cleans by removing excess soil and sebum. However, the shampooing process has disadvantages in that the hair is left in a wet, tangled and generally unmanageable state. Shampooing can also result in the hair becoming dry or “frizzy”, and a loss of luster, due to removal of natural oils or other hair moisturizing materials. After shampooing, the hair can also suffer from a loss of “softness” perceived by the user upon drying. The hair can also suffer from increased levels of static upon drying after shampooing. This can interfere with combing and can result in fly-away hair. A variety of approaches have been developed to alleviate the after-shampoo problems. These range from the inclusion of hair conditioning aids in shampoos to post-shampoo application of hair conditioners, i.e., hair rinses. Hair rinses are generally liquid in nature and must be applied in a separate step following the shampooing, left on the hair for a length of time, and rinsed with fresh water. This, of course, is time consuming and is not as convenient as shampoos containing both cleaning and hair conditioning ingredients. Therefore, it is desirable to have a shampoo capable of depositing conditioning aids.
It is also desirable to include solid particles in a shampoo for deposition on the scalp and/or hair. Solid particles are known for use as benefit agents in a variety of formulations and personal care compositions. Solid particles can impart benefits both to the compositions comprising them or surfaces to which the compositions are applied. Solid particles can for example be used as pigments or coloring agents, opacifiers, pearlescent agents, feel modifiers, oil absorbers, skin protectants, matting agents, friction enhancers, slip agents, conditioning agents, exfoliants, odor absorbers, or cleaning enhancers. Additionally, many active ingredients useful as treatment agents for various disorders or socially embarrassing conditions are available and typically used in solid particulate form including antiperspirant agents, anti-dandruff agents, antimicrobials, antibiotics, and sunscreens.
Depositing materials such as conditioning aids and solid particles from a shampoo composition can be difficult. Deposition must be balanced against other factors such as cleansing properties of the shampoo, “feel” of the shampoo during use, and hair feel post-shampoo. Current polymers used as deposition aids are not always effective at depositing materials while maintaining the balance described above.
It remains, therefore, highly desirable to have a rinse-off composition, preferably a cleansing composition, capable of containing and effectively depositing and retaining conditioning aids and/or solid particle benefit agents on the surface treated therewith. It has now been discovered that select cationic polymers, when used in the cleansing compositions of the present invention, can surprisingly enhance the deposition and retention of conditioning aids and/or solid particle benefit agents on the surfaces treated therewith.